Hearsay and hearings: Flames are front and centre

If they can’t make the playoffs, the Calgary Flames appear determined to make news, to make noise.

Everywhere you look or listen, the Flames are front and centre.

Hearsay and hearings.

Seeking players, signing players.

It’s nearly enough to make a person forget there are games to be played. Not necessarily a bad thing at this juncture of a writeoff winter.

A peek at the Flames’ headline-hogging landscape:

* The Dennis Wideman Saga continues its now-stultifying plod towards resolution, with an unprecedented neutral-party appeal happening now in New York.

Wideman, for his (still) irrational belting of linesman Don Henderson a month ago, has served 12 of his 20 games of suspension.

* Reports — and common sense — have the Flames, in advance of the National Hockey League’s trade deadline Monday, trying to peddle at least a half-dozen bodies, all of whom are pending free agents.

Including defender Kris Russell.

“Obviously, you hear from friends and family — I don’t get involved in it, I don’t read what’s going on,” said Russell, who, after participating in the morning’s skate, missed his sixth straight contest Thursday — lingering lower-body issues, apparently. “My name’s coming up. I want to be a Calgary Flame — I’ve said that. I’m with this team today, so that’s my main focus.

“You think about it, obviously. It’s part of the game. I try to block it out as best as I can, (but) it sneaks in there a bit. I’m just trying to go about my business.”

“You just have to remember that it’s completely out of your control,” said Colborne. “It’s something that — when you’re young and you’re a rookie and you go through it a couple of times — you think about it a tonne.

“We get paid really well to play a game that we love and this is one of the drawbacks of it.”

Monahan met up with his own representative, Don Meehan, a couple of days ago in Los Angeles.

“Nothing (new) right now,” said Monahan, 21. “The contract’s going to be done soon, so, obviously, it’s a topic of conversation. It’s whatever works best for both sides. I want to be here and I’m looking forward to it.”

He and Gaudreau, linemates and chums, have chatted about the process.

“We talk a little bit,” said Monahan. “We’re in the same situation … but right now we’re trying to do our best on the ice.”

* The Flames, according to TSN, are among a handful of teams courting Dryden Hunt, overager of the Moose Jaw Warriors.

Passed over twice in the NHL draft, Hunt is ripping it up, 99 points in 61 dates. His 49 goals are a dozen more than anyone else.

The Nelson, B.C., native produces even when star pivot Brayden Point is absent. (The Calgary native has missed 34 games.)

Meaning, draft snub or not, the 201-pound left-winger will get his contract.

As for the actual hockey …

The Flames, on the slippery slope to the land of bingo balls, have lost six of the last seven outings, stranding them 27th overall.

In the Saddledome press box for Game 60 — a 2-1 overtime loss to the New York Islanders — only five clubs (Detroit, Winnipeg, Philadelphia, Pittsbugh, Minnesota) were represented.

But that did little to take the edge off the proceedings, whisper-wise.

Especially when Hudler, curiously, departed the pre-game warm-up early. He’s always the very last member of the Flames to leave the ice, so ever-panicky reporters had been fizzing.

False alarm, however.

And the Czech winger didn’t hurt his chances of a transfer by draining a first-period tally.

However, local lad Thomas Hickey squared it for the guests in the third. Isles captain John Tavares, with a feed to Josh Bailey in the dying seconds of the extra period, took care of the rest, spoiling a splendid display by netminder Joni Ortio.

“It was a great game all-around,” said Brandon Bollig, who twice fought rabble-rouser Matt Martin. “It came down to a pretty good goalie duel there — both teams had a lot of chances. It’s just unfortunate it turned out the way it did, because with that effort we deserved a better result.”

Even if everything, including public opinion, appears stacked against them these days.

“I don’t think anyone is interested in losing any games, let alone a string of them,” said Bollig. “At this point, with our situation, everyone’s playing with pride. There’s a matter of professionalism in it … and it never looks bad to win.”

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Fans will be buzzing about the early animosities.
And about the late comeback.
In what was certainly the most scrappy, spirited instalment of the Battle of Alberta in recent memory, the Calgary Flames stormed back with yet another third-period script-flipper in Saturday’s 4-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers at the Saddledome.